


The Beautiful, Troublesome Truth

by fandomfrolics



Series: (When I Grow Up) I'll Be Stable [2]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-05 04:04:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1089413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomfrolics/pseuds/fandomfrolics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tell me something true."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beautiful, Troublesome Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from 'Truth' by Vaughan Penn
> 
> A couple of lines of dialogue are from 10 Things I Hate About You.

“Tell me something true.”

“Uh oh.” Tony brandished a handful of fries at Steve. “You’ve been letting Pepper recommend you movies again, haven’t you?”

They were out at their usual spot, the overlook up by Kenneth Park, sitting on the grass and munching on some tried and true fast food. It was that weirdly confusing time of year when clocks had just been turned forward and dark came much faster than it was supposed to and the air above them was a deep inky blue, wisps of haze splotched here and there to break up the monotony of the starless sky.

“Mayyyyyyyybe,” Steve replied, yanking a fry out of Tony’s hand and popping it into his mouth.

“10 Things I Hate About You? Really, Steve? If you were going to go back that far you could have at least gone with Bring It On. _That’s_ a classic.” Tony started wiggling and shimmying, splitting the remaining fries between his two hands to use as pom-poms. “We’re sexy, we’re cute, we’re popular to boot!”

Steve laughed. “Not that I’m not _dying_ to see the rest of that cheer but seriously, Tony, c’mon.” Steve smiled softly, one edge of his mouth tipping up ever so slightly. “Tell me something real.” He laughed again, self-consciousness quieting the sound. “Something no one else knows.”

Tony stared at Steve - Steve with his leg pulled tight against his chest, chin to his knee and warm fondness emanating from every line on his face - and made a split-second decision. “Something real, huh?” He tossed the fries over his shoulder, ignoring Steve’s protests about waste, and jumped to his feet, dusting salt off his hands. “Okay, something real…” Tony muttered, pacing back and forth in front of Steve, his hands clasped behind his back.

He swung to a halt right in front of Steve and spun on his heel to face him. “Okay, so,” Tony said, blowing the second word out on an exhale. Steve tilted his head back slightly, looking ever so patiently up at him.

“You know the day we first met, when I was getting the shit kicked out of me?” Tony started slowly. “And you rode in like my knight in shining armor and just got the shit kicked out of you too.” Tony didn’t even bother phrasing the second part as a question because, _really_. “And then you tried to talk to me and I yelled at you for trying to help and was, let’s face it, pretty much being a total dick?”

“I remember,” Steve said dryly.

“Well, so I yelled at you because I was pissed.”

“Yeah, got that. You do know I was there, right?”

“Yeah, alright sassy pants, I’m getting there.”

“You were angry,” Steve continued for him, “because I, a lowly freshman _dared_ to try to help someone as almighty as--”

“No, no, I…” Tony said over him, waving his hands.

Steve let the rest of his sentence fall and watched Tony, waiting.

“I was pissed because I…” Tony paused again. “I was pissed because those two dudes were at least twice your size and you had absolutely zero idea who I was. I was pissed because despite all of that, you did the right thing anyway. The decent thing. And I was…I was so _fucking_ pissed because I couldn’t…I couldn’t remember the last time someone in my life had done that, done the decent thing.” Tony swallowed. “Least of all me.”

He stepped forward until he was toe-to-toe with Steve and Steve tipped his head all the way back, staring up at him. “Do you know how many times I’ve been beat up in that hallway? ‘Cos I sure as hell don’t, I’ve completely lost count. And do you know how many times someone has stopped to do something about it?” Tony threw up a hand, his index finger and thumb forming a big fat zero.

“So here’s something else true. But I’m pretty sure it’s something _everyone_ else knows. You, Steve Rogers, are possibly the most decent human being on the planet.” His words grew quiet. “And I don’t know what the _hell_ I did to deserve you in my life.”

Steve looked up at Tony, his face a completely mystery. God, Tony really should teach him how to play poker. “You know,” Steve said quietly after a moment. “For someone who comes off as an arrogant ass more often than not, you sure seem to think very little of yourself.” Tony raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth but Steve wasn’t done. “Now I’m going to tell _you_ something everyone else knows. Everyone except you, it seems.” Steve smiled again, knowing. “Despite how much you try to hide it, you, Tony Stark, are a pretty decent human being yourself.”

Tony swallowed and dropped his gaze to his feet, away from the earnest honesty in Steve’s eyes, and tried to ignore the warm feeling in his gut. He had no idea what this, this _thing_ between them, was but it sure as hell wasn’t like any other friendship he’d had (though really, that wasn’t saying much) and it kinda scared the hell out of him.

He lifted his head again, to see if his brain had come up with _something_ that didn’t sound horribly awkward in reply to Steve’s matter-of-fact proclamation or maybe even to see how Steve felt about this whole thing because there was no way he was the only one who thought that this, what they were, was weird as shit, right? Steve _had_ to think so too.

Apparently not.

“You want to know something else true?” Steve was saying, looking down at the paper bag by his leg as he rummaged through it. “I’m gonna eat your burger if you don’t get back down here in the next two seconds.” He pulled the burger out triumphantly and lifted it over his head, wiggling it with a smirk.

Well, fuck it. It’s not like Tony could answer these questions on an empty stomach anyway.

“Gah!” Steve yelped as Tony leaped on top of him. “You’re squishing the food!” he cried, half-giggling.

After a brief struggle, Steve managed to wriggle out from under Tony, burger still in hand, and he sprinted away to where they’d dropped their bikes.

“I take back everything I said about you being decent!” Tony yelled after him.

“I need the extra protein,” Steve called back. He unwrapped the burger a little and took a big bite as Tony caught up to him. “Ee cafe tchoo divent notif,” he mumbled through the jumble of food in his mouth before gulping it down. “You’re like, double my size.”

Tony just widened his eyes and pouted at him and like clockwork, Steve groaned. “I _hate_ it when you do that,” he moaned. “It’s not even cute!” Despite his words, he shoved the burger at Tony’s chest and Tony took it with a big grin, staring gleefully at his prize.

He looked up after a moment to find Steve watching him with a strange look on his face but it was gone in a blink, before Tony could even begin to figure out what it meant. “So, um,” Steve said, clearing his throat slightly. “You gonna help me with my math or what? Ms. Jennings seems to have gone a little crazy this week.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. My place after this?”

Steve nodded and headed back to their spot to clean up the trash. Tony stared after him, an odd feeling simmering under his skin and his mind a complete jumble.

Yup, this wasn’t weird at all.


End file.
